Small Press Sunday Roundup: February 23, 2014

One of our big goals here at Comic Booked is to build up our relationships with all the small press publishers out there. Every week we get several new submissions for Small Press Sunday and wading through them all gets to be a full time job. Sometimes, like today, I just have to clean house a little bit and do summary reviews of several great books.

Last Breath – This is a great book written by Sam Eggleston about the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. In a world where China and the United States launched a joint moon mission, tragedy strikes then the mission is attacked at the same time as war erupts on the earth. An American is stranded on the moon and has to find a way to survive. There is some great conflict in this story and a lot of things that our world is probably seriously heading towards. I can really see this being a true story in 10 or 15 years. Sam and his art team put together a great Kickstarter program that was very successful. This is one of those books that you just have to read in order to truly get the full effect. You can check out the ended Kickstarter or go ahead and buy a copy of this book and support Last Breath.

Tales to Admonish #2 – This was a very interesting one. A Japan-based team from Australia, Andrez Bergen and Matt Kyme, have put together a collection of three stories, ranging across all sorts of styles. From noir to superhero to sci-fi, this book runs the gamut. Each story has some solid writing and very interesting and cool looking art. Mostly black and white, but splashes of color that are perfectly in line with each story. The best thing about this comic book was the moral at the end of each story. You can get a digital copy here or, if you happen to be in Melbourne, check out the list of comic shops carrying Tales to Admonish. You can even check out some other great publications from Andrez Bergen.

Zombie B.C. #1 – Comic Books, movies, and television have a love affair with anything undead lately. It begs the question of how long zombies have been around. Zombie B.C. #1 is a great art driven story of hunters in prehistoric times that experience the terror of the relentless zombie horde. Stephen Vold and Steven Williams have created a great story here. The art is really cool. I love the amount of detail and the way that even without the narration, the art of this book could tell the whole story. The narration is a good bonus, and gives us the insight inside the minds of the prehistoric people as they fight back against these dangerous creatures that used to be parts of their tribe. This is worth picking up and zombie fans out there should really check it out. You can check out the ended Kickstarter and you can get a copy of this great new comic on Amazon.

Jan’s Atomic Heart and Other Stories – This is another anthology of thought provoking stories, each with a sci-fi basis and a definitely cool twist to them. They are black and white with alternating artists and written by Simon Roy. Containing seven different stories each so different but fitting together so well, Jan’s Atomic Heart and Other Stories will be published by Image Comics on March 26, 2014. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good sci-fi anthology. From a story about Russian cosmonauts to a tale of humans who can download their minds into androids while they wait for medical procedures, this book has a little of everything. Aliens to robots, to stupid humans, this book has them all. I loved the series of artists working on this book as well, a little of everything from soft lines to harder shapes and shading. You can find one of the stories in its original version on Amazon.

Have you had enough? Are you not entertained?!? I figure most of you are experiencing sensory overload by this time, so I will turn off the firehose. I hope that you have gotten a feel for each of these books and are willing to go out there and explore some stuff that you just might not have even tried before. These are some brave creators hanging their stuff out there with the hopes that you, the fans and readers, will latch on and love this as much as they do. I will admit that there are some great books here and, if you can, please check them out.